In the late 1960's and early 1970's Motor Wheel Corporation of Lansing, Mich., assignee of applicant herein, as well as its then parent company, The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company of Arkon, Ohio, developed and introduced an improved form of composite metal-elastomer styled wheel marketed under the registered trademark "POLYCAST". Such styled wheels provided an automotive type wheel in which metallic parts of simple, conventional configuration, for which manufacturing equipment was already available, are utilized as the basic structural components to thereby obtain a high strength standardized wheel construction at minimum cost. The aesthetically pleasing appearance was imparted to this standard steel backbone by a permanently adhered ornamental plastic body, either molded separately or in-situ as a homogeneous one-piece body or in the form of a plastic cover secured by an adhesive foam body to the outboard side of the wheel. This provided an improved anti-noise characteristic to the wheel and enabled the appearance of the wheel to be readily and economically varied to suit different customer's styling requirements without varying the basic structural components of the wheel. Additional benefits resided in the side impact cushioning to prevent damage to the wheel while retaining the high strength and impact resistance advantages of the time-proven conventional ductile steel wheel components. Wider variations in styling and contour configurations were also obtained than were possible in the previous deep drawn styled all-steel wheels.
Various embodiments of such "POLYCAST" wheels, as well as methods and apparatus for producing the same, are set forth in the following U.S. Patents and pending U.S. patent applications assigned to the assignee herein:
U.S. Pat. No. 3,669,501--6/1972--Derleth PA0 U.S. Pat. No. 3,756,658--9/1973--Adams PA0 U.S. Pat. No. 3,762,677--10/1973--Adams PA0 U.S. Pat. No. 3,794,529--2/1974--Thompson PA0 U.S. Pat. No. 3,815,200--6/1974--Adams PA0 U.S. Pat. No. 3,918,762--11/1975--Hampshire PA0 U.S. Pat. No. 3,935,291--1/1976--Jackson PA0 U.S. Pat. No. 3,956,451--5/1976--Adams PA0 U.S. Pat. No. 4,017,239--4/1977--O'Connell PA0 U.S. Pat. No. 4,251,476--2/1981--Smith PA0 U.S. Pat. No. 4,398,770--8/1983--Smith PA0 U.S. Pat. No. 4,659,148--4/1987--Grill PA0 U.S. Pat. No. 4,682,820--7/1987--Stalter PA0 U.S. Pat. No. 4,786,027--11/1988--Stalter PA0 U.S. Pat. No. 4,790,605--12/1988--Stalter PA0 U.S. Pat. No. 4,847,030--7/1989--Stalter PA0 U.S. Pat. No. 4,861,538--8/1989--Stalter PA0 Ser. No. 4,963,083--Filed: 10/90--Stalter et al. PA0 Ser. No. 353,099--Filed: 3/1989--Post et al. PA0 Ser. No. 345,427--Filed: 5/1989--Joseph et al.